Australian wonder kid Darcy Ward has made a stunning return to the Speedway Grand Prix World Championship by taking a win in the Danish Grand Prix in Copenhagen leading home Matej Zagar and World Champion, Chris Holder.
After missing three Grands Prix due to a broken shoulder, Ward has left the speedway world speechless – again – with his performance which saw him net 19 points – five more than any other competitor. He dropped just two points all meeting, losing his first ride to Nicki Pedersen and third ride to Holder. Pedersen had a rare quiet night at the office, scoring just seven points.
Ward was pushed all the way in the final by a determined Zagar who earlier in the night put World Championship leader Emil Sayfutdinov into the back straight fence, the incident collecting a hapless Andreas Jonsson at high speed, subsequent injury putting pay to Jonsson's Grand Prix.
Holder closed the gap to second in the Championship by three points. Just two points separate the defending World Champion and Brit, Tai Woffinden, who had another spectacular night despite still suffering from a collarbone injury, walking away from PARKEN Stadium with 11 points.
The gap to Championship leader Sayfutdinov was closed by a solitary point by Holder. Sayfutdinov was eliminated in the semi-final stage by Zagar and Tomasz Gollob but scored 13 points overall. His Championship lead is also 13 points to Woffinden.
By virtue of his bag of points and first Grand Prix win, Ward places himself in the mix to make it into the top eight direct qualification for next year's World Championship. He's now 12th, 18 points from the eighth placing.
Ward is already ahead of the likes of Antonio Lindback who has virtually no chance of making it into next year's Championship. The Swede, who revealed during the week he's being tested for ADHD, scored another atrocious two points from his five rides in Copenhagen.
Two time GP winner in 2013, Jarek Hampel had a quiet six points, whilst seventh placed man in the Championship, Niels-Kristian Iversen had a poor night at the office, walking away with just four points.
VIDEO: Darcy Ward's stunning Speedway Grand Prix debut win